"This, then is our desert:
to live facing despair,
but not to consent.
To trample it down under hope in the Cross.
To wage war against despair unceasingly.
That war is our wilderness.
If we wage it courageously,
we will find Christ at our side.
If we cannot face it,
we will never find him."

Thursday, 19 November 2009

Innuendo and sheer nastiness

There has been a lot of patronising comment and misrepresentation, and attempts from all quarters (largely from Anglicans in pointy hats, but also from a few Catholics wearing sandals) to downplay what the Holy Father has done in the Apostolic Constitution. But it would be foolish in the extreme for those who seem incapable of keeping a solemn promise, and for whom “honour” is simply another weapon in the day to day political armoury, to pretend that nothing has changed as a result of it. Those who have nothing to fear don’t usually tend to invest in the time and trouble to splash around such huge amounts of cold water.The same would seem to apply to those of greater integrity who, in genuine hope but against all the evidence, still think that traditional forms of inter-church dialogue can be productive when engaging with those whose ecclesiology makes it impossible for them to be ecumenically honest.